Catching the Past
by Eleneri
Summary: Fourth in the Rose Shepard Series; during an early excursion on the Citadel, Commander Rose Shepard's past comes back to bite her. A slightly AU, expanded version of the Earthborn origin quest that takes you to the infamous Chora's Den.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note**: This is a slightly AU, expanded version of the quest an Earthborn origin Shepard gets at some point on the Citadel.

**Disclaimer:** As usual, Mass Effect and all associated characters and places belong to Bioware. No infringement offered or intended.

* * *

_**The Citadel**_

_**Zakera Ward, Market**_

* * *

"Commander Shepard! Hey, Commander Shepard, it's me!" Over at his habitual spot by the wall next to Expat's shop, the pale-haired man in the black shirt waved his arm frantically at them. "Remember me? Conrad Verner?"

"Just smile and move, Commander." Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko murmured. "We got this." He put a hand on Shepard's shoulder to nudge her down the stairs to the lower market. "Chief, initiate the Verner Protocol."

"On it, LT." A determined smile on her face, Ashley flanked their commanding officer, cutting off Verner's view of her as they descended. "Sorry, Mister Verner. In a rush. Spectre business. You know how it is. We'll try and catch up later."

Too surprised to resist, Shepard followed orders. Once they were down the second flight of stairs and out of sight of the man, she stopped and blew a breath out from pursed lips. "I cannot believe he's still there," she muttered, carefully watching the stairs as if she expected Verner to come down them at any second.

Kaidan gave one of his dry chuckles. "You know, I don't think he's moved from the last time we saw him."

His observation brought the Commander's attention squarely on him. "Why in the Maker's name were you two treating me like a diplomat in a hostile situation? 'Just keep moving, ma'am'? Verner Protocol? And you, Williams, flanking to catch stray fire? Seriously?"

"Just obeying orders, ma'am." Ashley went to attention, but there was a distinctly amused gleam in her eye. "You told the LT and me to never allow anyone to ask you for your autograph again."

Shepard rubbed the back of her neck. "I did, didn't I?" She laughed, giving them a high-voltage grin that made a passing asari blink. "In that case, good job, you two. Excellent work. I'm especially impressed that you had a code name all set to go."

"Hey, the code name was my idea." A lopsided grin lifted one corner of Ashley's full mouth. "Does that mean I can have a new rifle when we get to Morlan's shop?"

Shepard had to laugh again; there had been a slightly plaintive tone in the gunnery chief's voice. "We'll see what he has. Just as long as we don't go out of the market the same way we came in. I am not in the mood to play 'evacuate the dignitary' twice in one day."

* * *

The enterprising salarian merchant had a few things in stock that Shepard liked and were distinct upgrades from their current gear. While she handled the details of delivery to the Normandy, her squadmates were surveying the area. "Hey, check it, Commander. Back door." Ashley was grinning and pointing to a door in the back of the market that they hadn't bothered to explore before. "No running the fan gauntlet for us."

"Wonder where it leads." Kaidan pulled up a Citadel map on his omnitool and frowned thoughtfully over it. "Chora's Den looks like it's just around the corner."

The dark-haired gunnery chief put one hand on her hip, one eyebrow raised sardonically. "Angling for some shore leave, LT?"

"In that place? Nah." He shook his head. "Too much noise. I've been riding a good wave of no migraines last couple of days, and I don't want to fall off just yet."

Ashley smirked, clearly disbelieving. "Sure you don't want to risk it for that view?"

Fascinated, Shepard watched a dull flush creep up Alenko's neck for a few seconds before she took pity on him. How anyone that straightlaced had managed to survive as long as he had in the military was a mystery to her. "Chief... Give it a rest."

"Yes, ma'am. Giving it a rest." Ashley deflated slightly, pouting. "You never let me have any fun."

* * *

As soon as they entered the corridor beyond the market and outside Chora's Den, the hair on the back of Shepard's neck started to prickle. The area was empty except for one human male leaning against the wall across from the Citadel transit kiosk. She scanned him with the ease of habit and the speed of someone who knew her life usually relied on an accurate threat assessment. Approximately six feet tall, no visible weapons, couldn't see if he was amped, so biotics remained a possibility; possible late twenties to early thirties, medium brown hair slightly too long to indicate military service, shirtsleeves rolled up to expose arms ropy with muscle. What she could see of his left hand showed knobbed knuckles and rough patches. He worked with his hands. Dressed in nondescript dark clothing, no logos or patches to indicate a job or company affiliation.

The lurking man smirked at her as the marines approached; the gesture made her gun hand itch. Shepard could see the dull gleam of his teeth even in the low, ruddy light. "They told me it was you, but I didn't believe it." Amusement laced his nasal voice; the emotion didn't make him any more pleasant to listen to. "Little Shepard grew up and turned into a soldier."

Shepard's dark eyes narrowed. "Do I know you?"

"Name's Finch. You probably don't remember me, but we have a little in common." He rolled up his sleeve to display the red X tattooed on his bicep.

She'd had a similar one lasered off her shoulder when she joined the Alliance. Shepard swallowed the sour taste of bile that rose, accompanied by a wave of old memories that had nothing to do with him and everything to do with that red X. "Finch, I guarantee we have nothing in common."

"Really?" Finch's smile was not nice. "Maybe you don't remember, running in a gang. Maybe someone should do an interview, talking about Commander Shepard's dirty little history in the Tenth Street Reds."

In his usual spot at the commander's right elbow, Kaidan clenched a fist, feeling the vague prickle of biotic static form around it like a warning. Beside him, Ashley glanced over. The dim light of the corridor wasn't really conducive to communication, but he could read the look in her eyes. She was ready to back whatever play he made. They exchanged almost infinitesimally small nods. _Nobody fucked with the Commander_.

"We don't want to cause you trouble, Shepard," Finch was saying. "We just want a favor. For old time's sake."

"And what favor would that be, Finch?" Shepard crossed her arms over her chest, watching Finch with an expression that could by turns be described as predatory and patient.

"A Red named Curt Weisman got picked up by the turians. We want you to go into the bar there and talk to the turian guard. Get him out of his little dilemma."

"What the hell was this Weisman doing in turian space?"

"Shipping." His greasy grin flashed again. "We do a lot of shipping. Cargo. He might have got caught with a little red sand. You know how the turians are. Sticks up their asses. You do this for us, and you never have to see me again." Finch's eyes glittered. "You don't and... well... You might not run with the Reds any more, Shepard, but you really don't want us as your enemies."

"Maybe it's escaped your notice, Finch, but of the two of us, I'm the one with the gun." She leaned closer, ignoring the twisting of her stomach. "Maybe you want to be a little more careful about who you're tossing threats at."

"Hey, who's threatening?" Finch held up his hands. "I'm just saying life is dangerous, Shepard. Why add to your troubles?" He grinned crookedly, stained teeth gleaming in the ruddy light from the overhead fixtures. "Think about it, is all." He winked at her. "Catch you around, Shepard."

Shepard watched Finch saunter away. "Arrogant prick," she muttered.

"Commander?" Ash was the one who spoke first, picking up the slack and stepping into the uncomfortable silence. "No one who knows you is going to hang you over something you did as a kid. I've read your bio. Everyone has. It's common knowledge, old news. Not like you fell into the Reds on purpose."

"Actually, I did."" Shepard shrugged lightly. "It was that or starve or become an eight year old whore."

The other woman blanched. "Sorry, ma'am, I didn't..."

"Ash." Shepard held up one hand. "It's okay. I only said it because it was true, and it's old news. Besides, I have nothing to hide from you two. I trust you both." A small smile broke through the shadows in her dark eyes when she looked at Kaidan. "You gonna put that away, Alenko?"

Kaidan realized his fist was still glowing... and trembling faintly. With an effort, he banked his anger and pulled the dark matter back. The eezo nodules in his chest flared with fire, and his nerves hummed as if in protest. Not a good sign. He was supposed to be the steady one, the methodical one, the one who always remembered to leave himself a way out. Problem was, leaving a way out was becoming increasingly hard to do where the commander was concerned. "Sorry, commander. Didn't realize you noticed."

"Hard not to notice when a ball of biotic static is a foot away from your back." Shepard rolled her shoulders to shake the tension from them. It didn't work. "Come on. Let's get this done." She strode into the branching corridor.

"Where are we going, ma'am?" Ashley wanted to know.

"Looks like we're going to Chora's Den after all."

O o O


	2. Chapter 2

_**The Citadel**_

_**Chora's Den**_

* * *

Shepard walked into the writhing multi-sensory assault that was Chora's Den like she was walking onto the deck of a battlecruiser, all to-the-bone businesslike attitude and steely eyes. Williams and Alenko followed in her wake, tense and watchful. The commander lasered a glance around the chaotic room, then went straight to the turian in uniform who was leaning against the wall watching one of the asari dancers writhe provocatively on a small stage.

"Excuse me."

"Spectre." The turian nodded to her, not really taking his attention from the dancer. "Can I help you?"

"No. I can help you." Shepard folded her arms across her chest. "A man named Finch is looking to release a human named Curtis Weisman from turian custody and wanted me to use my authority as a Spectre to do it."

"The xenophobe?" His mandibles flared slightly, and he finally gave Shepard his full attention. "Huh. I should have figured he'd have friends. Thank you, Spectre." He gave her a small nod of appreciation. "I'll increase the guard on his cell."

Shepard started a mental countdown; she'd reached four when Finch slithered out of a nearby shadow, four burly men behind him. _Knew that asshole was following us, and oh, look. He brought friends._

"I should have known you'd rat us out, Shepard!" he spat at her, then wiped his mouth. "The Reds aren't that pathetic street gang they were when you ran with them. We have the power to make you sorry for double-crossing us. When we get through with you, your precious alien friends won't like you very much."

Shepard stayed poised on the balls of her feet, ready to move at Finch's slightest motion. She was very aware of Ashley at her left elbow, practically vibrating with outrage, and the prickling feeling that heralded a accelerating biotic charge at her right. Her tone was cool and just mocking enough to make Finch's teeth grit. "What's this really about? No gang cares about one lousy runner who was stupid enough to get caught."

Finch's weasel-bright eyes ignited with righteous anger. "The Tenth Street Reds isn't just a gang anymore, Shepard. It's a movement. A human movement. And we don't leave one of ours rotting in some stinking alien cell."

"Are you honestly trying to blackmail a Spectre?" The turian raised one hand in disbelief. "Over a drug runner?" The angle he was holding his mandibles indicated sheer amazement. "I will never understand humans." He shook his head. "Listen, you xenophobic idiot." One fused-digit hand pointed at Shepard. "This is the first Spectre your species has ever produced, and you people aren't even on the council yet. This female is acknowledged by the entire galactic community as someone who's smart enough, lethal enough and tough enough to get the job done. _And you're pissing her off_?"

"She's in bed with you! With all the alien trash! We should take you all out! We can do it. We've done it before. Our backers would jump at the chance." Finch snarled. Hate twisted his face into something inhuman in the red lights of Chora's Den. Around them, people stilled, watching warily.

The turian guard took two quick strides to the left. "There. I'm out of splatter range. Go ahead, Spectre."

"Tempting, really_ damn_ tempting, but no. That's not the way I work." Focusing her anger, Shepard got in Finch's face, hyperaware that Ashley and Kaidan had started to break formation and were moving into a position where they could assist in hand to hand. "Listen up, Finch, because I'm only gonna say this once. If you want humanity to have a position of respect in the galaxy, a smear campaign against the first human who got the Council's trust isn't the way to go. You want to try and blackmail me over some fabricated bullshit, then try to intimidate me, you _damn_ well better bring more than four men with you."

"Four is an insult, commander." Kaidan's voice was low, but resonant enough to somehow manage to be heard over the pulsing background music. "I've seen you clear four men and not even draw your sidearm."

"How many geth did we go up against on Eden Prime, LT?" Ashley let her hand rest suggestively on the butt of her pistol. Her other hand knotted into a fist as one or two of Finch's boys looked back and forth between her and the lieutenant. "I'm thinking it was a lot more than four."

"I don't know, Gunny." Kaidan flexed his glowing fingers into a fist. "Are we counting the drones?"

"Nah. Too small. But we have to count the husks." Ashley's smile showed entirely too many teeth.

"We definitely count them." With a sort of gallows theatricality, Kaidan let the eezo field trickle upward, until he knew he had blue energy sheening his eyes. "I always count something that's trying to rip my face off with its bare hands"

Finch's own face was getting paler by the second, and his eyes were pinched, glittering points in a sweat-sheened face. He sneered at Shepard. "It's not enough you gotta make nice with the stinkin' aliens, you gotta keep a pet freak, too?"

There was a ripple of movement, a flicker of color, and suddenly Finch was on the ground before he finished his choked scream, what was left of his nose a red ruin smeared across his face. One of the more muscled tough guys he'd brought with him threw a punch at Shepard. She flowed around him, her own hand moving to deflect, one foot coming up and then slamming sharply down. He went to the floor, clutching his destroyed left knee, as she pivoted into a high spin kick that nearly took the head off the second enforcer and sent him reeling.

The third and fourth gangers who'd come with Finch moved as their friend hit the wall; one heard the whine of a pistol charging up very, very close to his ear. He froze, hands creeping upward in a gesture of surrender. The fourth one, less intelligent than the others or possibly more eager for a fight, found himself meeting the ground rather harshly, his arms locked behind him in a sleeper hold and a very narrow mass effect field trickling down his spine to paralyze his legs.

"I really wouldn't." Kaidan murmured to him. "But if you want to die, feel free to try and take a shot at her."

Shepard looked around for her people, a smile curving her lush mouth when she saw they were unharmed and, in all likelihood, having fun. "We clear?"

"Clear, commander." Kaidan applied slightly more pressure to his captive's neck, cutting off blood to his brain long enough for the man to fall unconcious. "Gunny?"

"Clear." Ashley slammed the butt of her pistol into the back of the man's head. He dropped like a rock. "Huh. Disappointing. Apparently, he had a glass head." Frowning in disappointment, she glanced at the man whose knee Shepard had broken. He was trying to get up. Her fist flew out, a guided missile of clenched knuckles and fury.

Shepard smoothed a loose tendril of hair back from her face as the thug crumpled to the ground, a truly spectacular bruise already starting to bloom around his left eye. "Nice punch, Chief."

"Yeah, well..." Ashley shook her hand out, flexing the fingers. "Nobody messes with my CO. Right, LT?"

Kaidan straightened, rolling his broad shoulders. "Damn right, Ash."

"Appreciate the sentiment." Shepard went down on one knee next to the sobbing Finch. "Listen up, Finch. You may want to remember that I am a _Spectre_, and I can legally kill every single being in this bar and barely have to worry about filling out requisition forms for the damn bullets. If you ever, and I mean_ ever_, raise a hand to anyone again, harass any aliens again, or insult my people again, then Maker help you - I will find out about it, and then I will take you apart, and all the Reds with you. _Now walk away."_

"You're not a real Red." The words came out on a red-flecked wheeze of air. He scrambled backward, crablike, hand still clamped to his ruined nose. When he was a safe distance away, he wobbled to his feet, spitting blood as he did. "You're not one of us. You're not!"

Shepard sighed. "You have no idea how happy that makes me, Finch."

The turian guard rounded on Shepard as soon as Finch was out of earshot. "That man is a xenophobe who thinks he can blackmail a Spectre," he said tightly, mandibles flaring in agitation and what subvocal ranges of his voice that Shepard could register indicating the level of his annoyance with her. "You hurt him pretty bad. Why not kill him?"

"Like I said, it was tempting. But I never take the easy road." Shepard shook herself. "Would you mind handing these idiots over to C-Sec for me? I have other problems to deal with."

"Sure thing, Spectre. I'm sure Finch won't get too far, either."

"I was counting on it. Increase that guard on Weisman, and be safe." She offered her hand to the turian.

After a long pause, he clasped her forearm in a gesture of respect. "I'll never understand humans, Spectre, but..." He sighed. "Thanks for the show, and the arrests. It was interesting. You be safe, too."

Ashley sighed, finally relaxing her gun hand. "Yeah, like that's gonna happen. Hey, skipper, you didn't really leave any for us."

Shepard experimentally flexed her right hand. The punch she'd deflected had had the force of a piledriver, and she hadn't quite managed to block properly. She didn't think anything was broken, but it certainly hurt. "Sorry, Chief. He pissed me off."

The other woman holstered her sidearm, sending a glance around the room as she did. Chora's Den was as loud and sexual as ever now that the excitement was over. One of the asari strippers on the upper stage curved provocatively around her pole and sent Ashley a wink. "Fair enough. But next time, you gotta promise to share."

"Fair enough." Shepard rolled her shoulders. "Let's get out of here before you end up propositioned, or Alenko ends up with a migraine."

Ashley grinned at her CO. "Or before Conrad Verner trails you down here."

Shepard winced. "Low blow, Williams. Low blow."


End file.
